"The pauses are only temporary, and now we've seen a rotation to
the cyclicals. Looking at the market perspective, I still think
we're going higher."

Birinyi pointed toAutozone, which was hit
by a downgrade on Monday but bounced back quickly. "Those are the
kind of things I think are more important," he said.

In the near term, Birinyi sees the S&P 500 going to 1,700, but in the longer term
(after 2013) he said the index could reach 1,900. He called the
1,900 number "guidance" based on historical parallels, instead of
a target. Birinyi's call earlier this year that the S&P would
eclipse 1,600 came to fruition, leading to another bullish
prediction.

He said his firm is currently buying S&P 170 calls on the
SPDR S&P 500 ETF, a bullish options bet that the
S&P will hit 1,700.

Birinyi characterized the climb as "a cross country trip,"
suggesting that there will be stops and starts along the way.
"This market is very strong, but I want to take it one step at a
time and I want to get to 1,700 before we decide where we're
going after that," he said.

"People don't realize how strong this market has been," he said.
"This has been the strongest advance-decline in the S&P over
the last 20 years. What that means is that you want to be picking
stocks. I think that's the key here. You want to pick stocks here
and not worry about sectors or themes."

"When I look at the market, I look at what individual stocks are
doing. People have been concerned about things like inflation, and I look
at the inflation-sensitive names and they are not reacting the
way you would expect them to if that was an issue," he added.